Ireland, tourism, language: Will Notini at TEDxGallatin

Will Notini is a graduate of the NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study. His studies focused on the performative and extra-linguistic functions of language, drawing on disciplines including linguistics, linguistic anthropology and sociology and with a specific focus on the interaction between language and society in post-colonial environments.
About New York University's Gallatin School of Individualized Study
Creativity, flexibility and rigor characterize the academic program of the Gallatin School of Individualized Study. At Gallatin, students have the opportunity to combine the best of a small college experience with the best of a large research university. A Gallatin education is unique. The individualized structure of the program and its relationship to the rest of NYU are part of what makes the school so special. For more information visit gallatin.nyu.edu/
About TEDx, x = independently organized event
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)
video produced by Charles Q. Drexler
vfx animation by Michael J. Green
opening music by Gabriel S. Beam
Hyphenate Media
www.hyphenatemedia.com

[@mreoinocarroll1]

Having gone through the Irish educational system I think the issue with teaching Irish is that it's mostly done through English. I was lucky to have a primary school teacher that taught Irish in Irish so I can hold a basic conversation. I've memories of secondary school where pupils were correcting the teacher's grammar. Interestingly enough Gaelscoils (Irish language only schools) are becoming more desirable for parents due to the teacher student ratio being smaller than English only schools.

[@67Kevlar]

Immersion is the key. I did a homestay in Quebec to learn French. A day immersed in a language is like a month of classroom learning.

[@techie2udonegal]

That was not accidental, the state wants rid of the native language it (to them) is too associated with Irish nationalism and other nationalist rival political parties, the state policy has been to teach it poorly for generations and let it wither on the vine!

[@cigh7445]

@@techie2udonegal One need only look at the lack of willingness of the State throughout the nations history to do anything major in order to safeguard the future of the language in the Gaeltacht areas, to know that what you say is true.

[@cigh7445]

@@67KevlarReal immersion isn't as easy to recreate with a minority language. Especially when all of that languages speakers can easily switch to English without thinking about it.

[@icemav5740]

The problem is that it is taught as if you already know it

[@thebomb78]

God bless Ireland 🇮🇪💚

[@seonaxus]

Just checked, there is at least one Irish-Irish dictionary on the market as well, An Foclóir Beag by Ó Dónaill and Ua Maoileoin. It is also available for free online.

[@keenae]

From an Irishman.. well done. Great talk

[@kingofcelts]

I'm Irish, but believe Welsh as a spoken everyday language is doing better..

[@DoctorCymraeg]

pmgmail Sea

[@emmetor]

@@elissafanzo1124 It wasn't illegal to speak Welsh.

[@silverkitty2503]

@@elissafanzo1124 they didn't ..they didn't have a famine nor the same laws against it we did ..its always been easier ... nor massive immigration...we SHOULD be asking how the israelis did it.

[@jodochartaigh2016]

Maith thú mo cara, but it was not a famine it was a GENOCIDE against the Irish caused bay the british, research it.

[@nizzlevangogh6822]

*mo chara

[@hangsamich3098]

@@nizzlevangogh6822 seriously ...

[@nizzlevangogh6822]

@@hangsamich3098 it's helpful?!

[@michaelbecause]

@@nizzlevangogh6822 I thought it was "a chara"

[@nizzlevangogh6822]

Michael O Shea I think, & honestly I’m half cut typing this, but “a _ (e.g. Dháithí)” is more like “ to / for Dáithí” but either way, if it’s possessive like “mo/my” or “a” for male, there should be a séimhiú. So like “a Fhiachra” but it’s hold have to be “a Sadhbh”, no H between the S & A. I’ll check back when I’m sober x:)

[@setsirocco]

There are still a handful of Irish speakers left in Newfoundland. All are elderly, though.

[@marconatrix]

Scottish Gaelic seems to be hanging on (just) across in Nova Scotia/ Alba Nuadh.

[@j.obrien4990]

Tir na Iasc! good to hear that it's still hanging on.

[@papi8659]

Excellent presentation , well done

[@josephkelly6928]

I think it's fairly redundant to mention the rapid decline of the Irish language without first giving a cursory explanation of the history of English occupation of Ireland, and the methods the English used to marginalise the native population, and suppress Irish culture. Also, there ARE Irish-Irish dictionaries available, look harder. And Irish has a "far greater linguistic vitality than any of it's celtic neighbours"? There are over 700,000 Welsh (or Cambric) fluent speakers, which far outweighs the 86,000 fluent Irish speakers - unless you count the some 2,000,000 that have some knowledge of the language (as someone who lives in Ireland agus atá líofa sa gaeilge, they shouldn't be counted).

[@cigh7445]

@Michael Halligan Sophistication? Welsh has more native speakers, and far more people who have learned to a high level. Over thirty percent of the Welsh population can speak Welsh fluently. Twenty percent of them are native speakers. They don't have subtitles on any of their Welsh language television programmes because they have enough viewers who don't need them. Welsh is spoken in cities and towns as well as northern rural populations. What do you mean by 'sophistication'? Out of roughly 100,000 people living within the boundaries of the original Gaeltacht regions only about 30,000 still speak to a truly native level. Mostly the more isolated rural Gaeltacht farmers have by far the highest and least English influenced Irish. Gaeltacht children from the moment they leave their parents house to start school cannot escape the influence of English everywhere. And as far Irish outside of these more traditional areas, on a whole it's basically more like a secret code language some people have as a sidekick to their English. It tends to have none of the features of the native language of the Gaeltacht or the pre-Anglicisation Irish, instead it sounds exactly like the English of the speaker, but with different words.

[@nicolesXvideos]

Interesting talk. I am Irish, I'm in my final year of secondary school (highschool) and everyone in my year group hates the pressure we are facing to do well in our exams. We begin to study Irish at age 4/5 and most people feel like we don't learn enough of the language at a younger age, and we struggle to cope learning Irish and another foreign language (which, is compulsory for you to be accepted to the majority of colleges). A lot of us are sitting on the fence because we don't "need" Irish.

[@marconatrix]

So if you start Irish at 5-ish, how come you´re not all fluent by the time you get to secondary school (11-ish?) At that age you should be able to absorb language like a sponge. Or are the Irish just thick the way they´re often portrayed? (irony)

[@lisamurphy1512]

+macronatix the reason why we aren't all fluent by the time we're in secondary school is because we don't learn it in a conversational sense. We get taught grammar and how to form sentences on paper and some basic vocabulary but we never really get a chance to speak it while learning it. The most common thing we did in Irish when we were young was comprehensions.

[@edwinmagnier6690]

Nicole H thats depressing if that's still happening.

[@bbfrain]

Nicole H I appreciate your problem. I’m a American so I cannot understand what you’ve been put through educationally. But once Irish is gone, you, like myself, will lose your ethnic identity and will be sucked up into something of a globalized culture that lacks roots. Language defines us. Keep your Irish and never forget where you came from and where you’re going..

[@eibhlin5940]

@@bbfrain I find people now in Ireland are sending their kids more and more to Irish speaking schools,as foreigners have difficulty learning the language and little Interest in trying,so they know their kids will only be around their own,Irish is been revived since the mass immigration here !!

[@wrouillie]

Interesting,maybe I'll make an effort to learn it in the future.

[@seonaxus]

Gonna have to disagree on one point, Welsh is doing far better than Irish, in fact it bears the distinction of being the only one of the six Celtic languages to not be considered endangered. Breton on the other hand bears the burden of being the only one that is actively dying.

[@22grena]

Yes strange that he got that so wrong

[@PanglossDr]

Correct. I'm Irish but visit Wales frequently. I am always a bit jealous of how they have managed to maintain their language. But then, there was never an active government policy to destroy it as was the case with Irish.

[@sd5aj]

Bore da! There are nearly 800,000 Welsh speakers now. We've somehow added 15,000 per year for the last 10 years (no idea how!) which is remarkable in a population of less than 3 million. Welsh was historically oppressed too (google welsh not) which probably explains why it thrives! ;-)

[@carmelmulroy6459]

Absolutely the speakers of Welsh are young and middle aged people. The speakers of Irish are old people or are being thought it in schools which is an unnatural way to being back a language. Besides even if you learn it as a small child by the time you leave secondary or high school you are losing it. It's gone by middle age .

[@chevanwilson1]

I"M IRISH. WE NEED TO STAND NOW TOGETHER AND FIGHT ALL OTHER USELESS PEOPLE!

[@DoctorCymraeg]

chevanwilson1 I’M A CELT. WE NEED TO STAND NOW TOGETHER.

[@grlfcgombeenhunter2897]

Sign me up

[@eoin.o.fiannachta]

many factors point towards a poor attitude towards Irish, I mean being thrown into the language isn't great fun, the difference between mandatory maths or English is that Irish is not required for everyday life ANYWHERE on the Island Gaeltacht or not. Also it's because of influences from older generations who went through horrendously poor Irish classes, and being traumatised by the story of peig that teenagers are so reluctant. There's also the MAJOR factor of how fortunate we are that we speak English, many countries are striving to have their students speak perfect English, despite the fact that it's a colonist language, English is necessary for development and keeping connections with the international communities, even before famine times people knew that English was a way forward. Sure you'll get the whole "people died for this language" sphiel (I get plenty from my Connaught mam) but that just isn't true, revolutionists died for independence(which we got), the British didn't care if you were speaking Irish in the last decades of their colonisation, Irish was attempted in promotion but the dáil should've given up long ago. We need to face the fact that an as gaeilge nation is nearly impossible, even the language of immigrants outranks Irish, soon more people will speak punjabi, Russian or chinese. If people want a bi lingual/Irish lingual-Franca Republic then we really should do provincial language statuses like Canada (actually we should've done that long ago!). Gaelgóirs will argue that it's their language and therefore their right, well as a proud anglophone I don't want to have to watch English programmes to hear Irish, or be scrutinised for not knowing a cúpla focail, it's my right as much as their right. gaelgóirs need to accept that a panicking emergency worker it's going to be able to work quickly when speaking a language that they haven't uttered since their exams, or that an immigrant will obviously choose English over Irish any day, or that despite having been forced in as a "working" language by the EU that none of our ambassadors speak the language. As for gaelscoils they only have the appeal that your kids won't have to put up with the torture that you went through and that classes are small because children don't want to go there, if the state wants a bi lingual nation then they should make all state schools gaelscoils. Rant over :P

[@marconatrix]

A great lesson for the world´s threatened languages -- a lesson in exactly what NOT to do :-(

[@67Kevlar]

Since you mentioned Canada, I'll take that as my cue to chime in. Canada IS a bilingual state. And this clearly show in politics. Every serious candidate for prime minister must speak both English and French at a resonable level, as well as supreme court justices, top bureacrats etc. Now, we also have our own history of crushing minority languages, whether they be spoken by settlers (incluing Irish in Newfounland) or indigenous people. But we (like Belgium, Switzerland, etc.) have shown that bilingualism is possible.

[@eoin.o.fiannachta]

It's surprising how one's opinion can change so much in two years...

[@marconatrix]

So where do you stand now, a h-Eoin?

[@cillamoke]

like the Maori language...it almost died out until we started language nests

[@DoctorCymraeg]

Cilla Moke Tell me more

[@brianruane8505]

I'm 100% Irish - born, raised, and educated in Ireland to University level. It was compulsory for me to learn Irish - I currently know not a single word..!!! I'm not sorry about this - It was forced onto us as kids and I have deep resentment as a result - like most of my peer group! I now speak German, having been completely self taught (I wanted to do this in secondary school but it was not an option!) Its an insignificant language - keep it in museums and University language departments - and teach students languages that will enable them to communicate with others in other countries - may I suggest Spanish, or Mandarin , or perhaps Russian (but definitely not Irish!

[@eileencarroll6418]

As an early learner, I feel in awe of colorful and poetic idioms as much as intimidated by my own lack of cultural context and sub-text. It is difficult enough to first translate Irish words to English words, then decipher the intended meaning. It is an entirely different and possibly impossible thing to think in English words and guess the appropriate imagery and idioms and then translate to Irish words with cultural and emotional fluency.

[@djbillybopdjbillybop2817]

Brilliant Video i speak a little Irish and i am from Ireland.

[@darthvader5830]

Ah sure since you speak a little might as well learn the rest!

[@frankstein7631]

Éamon De Valera Did De Valera speak Spanish ,the language of his putative parent?

[@lexzoolia1]

God Bless America

[@seancaseo84]

what is it with yanks and finding "pog mo thoin" so funny .

[@animejunkie10]

I want an English to gaelic dictionary. Is there a way too create one? I personally am fascinated by languages. I've studied spanish in school and Japanese in my spare time. I'm not even remotely close to fluent but it's fun to learn new languages. Even bits and pieces. Thoughts on the dictionary idea?

[@keithmaguire7027]

focal.ie is probably more comprehensive than any dictionary you could buy, though, annoyingly, sometimes you find that fairly simple terms are missing. Also, just FYI, no one here calls it Gaelic, we always call it Irish.

[@boabysands123]

Try the excellent en~gl g~en dictionaries and pronunciation dictionary at www.teanglann.ie/en/ or the simpler www.potafocal.com/

[@darthvader5830]

You can buy a physical book version too. Just go on eBay or Amazon

[@fragranceofsound]

Would love for the language translators you buy to translate to Irish.

[@COM70]

Keith Maguire but we should call it Gaeilge.

[@carmelmulroy6459]

I don't see how they can naturally get back to Irish. The average native Irish speaker is probably a pensioner. My neighbor died recently at the age of 89 and his wife is now in a nursing home and wants to speak in English to the carers in the home. Their kids live in England and America. I can't imagine they will carry on the language. Even the older people that spoke a mix of Irish and English are now speaking more English. Sence the 10 years I have been back to Ireland I see the language being used in everyday life less and less.

[@irongryphon3480]

Far greater linguistic vitality? Welsh is doing much better.

[@nedhappened3085]

Would have been nice if there was some thoughts on ways to help save the language.

[@marconatrix]

Who was it said that the only way to save Irish would be to ban it on pain of death? :-)

[@SionTJobbins]

interesting, and much is true of Welsh here in Wales. But I'd sugges tha Welsh, on all metric, is more vibrant than Irish - number of fluent speakers, daily speakers, Wikipedia articles in Welsh (135,00), rock and pop music, natural use by the Wales national football team, publications and sales of books etc.

[@johnnyhourihan8834]

Listen to Kneecap (especially if you like hip hop)

[@cathleenh1413]

I wonder if Will would still stand by the statement that Irish as “an endangered language” in wake of the pop-up Gaeltachtaí movement and its usage across the world as a means of communication for people who have no real connection to ireland? Irish has become a language that thrives in many urban settings where it was once only associated with rural communities. Also, Irish has become economically salient because of Ireland’s membership in the EU and the emergence of Irish studies programs all over the world

[@cynefinmusic]

'Boasts a far greater linguistic vitality than any of its celtic neighbours'? Erm..ever been to an Eisteddfod? Wales has more poets per capita than any other country in the world.

[@TroyKC]

also ... tá mé ag beaganín as Gaeilge

[@resourcedragon]

Well, well, well, that's interesting. I know about my Scottish ancestry but 23andme also links me to Ireland and, with the exceptions of Belfast and Dublin, my Irish ancestors all appear to have lived beyond the pale.

[@TroyKC]

ohhh that last picture was politically charged... I know that and I'm just a dumb American (American made but assembled from Irish, German and Scandinavian parts) and actually I think the people in Northern Ireland (of all backgrounds) have done a pretty good job of resuscitating "Gaeilge"

[@boatalle]

Eirinn go brah, haha Ireland forever.

[@tomocadhla7951]

Video go han-mhaith.

[@frankkeogh3243]

In my day back in the sixties living in Dublin with English as my native language Irish was unfortunately not taught as a foreign language which is what it was to me. I learnt much more french than I ever did Irish because it acknowledged this fact but of course french was also seen as being useful. Also the Irish really don't like to be told to do something so compulsory Irish was a recipe for disaster. Lastly in those days Irish was associated with the IRA who were busy killing people and not at all cool in my mind. I like to believe that the language is now taught better and that the younger generation can at least hold a conversation in it.

[@vel0_rouge]

I don't really get the relevance of the goat herder story. He concludes to make it seem as if it's proof that Irish speakers were a relic of the past, but what did the English do with their goats at the time? Did no one herd them? And how many of them spoke Latin?

[@Killawullaun]

Go hiontacht

[@peteymax]

Maith thú Will, go h-iontach 😊

[@miseciara]

An-suimiúil.

[@darthvader5830]

An rud atá suimiúil ná do shoinne! Díreach 'É' ? Cad is ciall leis?

[@darthvader5830]

Freisin cad É as béarla? (An bhfaca tú cad a rinne mé ansin? 😉😆)

[@frankstein7631]

Éamon De Valera If she were male it would presumably be O hAodh ,probably most commonly rendered as Hayes in English.

[@frankstein7631]

Éamon De Valera do shloinne?

[@DoctorCymraeg]

Níl sé ceart! Tá níos mó daoine ag labhairt Breatnais ná Gaeilge.

[@fradrake11]

Go raibh maith agat

[@wk884]

He claims Irish has more vigour than Welsh. Hahahahah. Massively untrue, and Irish is more moribund than Breton too.

[@cathalodiubhain5739]

Irish is more guttural Welsh is like singing

[@psychicvacuum83]

More moribund than breton? I don't think so... Especially with breton being in France. France is one of the worst countries to speak minority languages.

[@frankstein7631]

W K Welsh has considerably more day to day native speakers than Irish. Breton is in serious trouble.

[@DoctorCymraeg]

Michael Halligan Welsh can be just as ‘sophisticated’ but we also have a spoken language which we use for ease day to day. Liken it to English and Simplified English on Wikipædia articles, or Bokmål in Norwegian. I believe one of the biggest reasons that Irish has struggled to revive is its speakers’ reluctance to ‘adapt’ and evolve - even if it means becoming more anglicised in its vocabulary and syntax at times. For example, in Welsh we can say ‘nofiaf yfory’. In Irish, ‘snámhoidh mé amárach.’ The English seperates the ‘nofiaf’ / ‘snámhoidh’ to ‘will + swim’. What we’re hearing more in Welsh now is ‘wna’ i nofio yfory’ which translates vulgarly to ‘I will swim tomorrow’ - much more like the English syntax. Irish, as far as I’m aware’ lacks a form like this and hence, when teaching Irish to young people (whose minds are already ‘English-inclined’) means they have to learn a new word AND a new word order each time they want to say something. And before the Gaeilge purists jump on this, I shall say two things. One; don’t fear for your literary and poetic Irish, it will endure - just like literary and poetic Welsh has and does. Two; before bemoaning the evolution to a more anglicised word order and a less Celtic one, check current Irish vocabulary like ‘fón’, ‘feindiáil’ and ‘feir pléigh’ etc. English will influence our languages but our refusal to ‘intigrate’ with English does not represent a submission to our old enemy, it represents an acceptance to change and adapt. If another language (not one that has been the voice of our colonial past - say Russian) was the world’s global language like English is now, it would have become such because humanity willed it that way - because it was easiest to speak and communicate. With a heavy heart I believe we must allow our languages to embrace that which has become the global language in order for our own to endure. If we refuse and deny Welsh and Irish (et al) to change, the world will forget about them and leave them behind.

[@HM-qh5xd]

Simple solution is people who know Irish use it in their daily lives esp at home. There is no alternative to revive it.

[@socialsnmedia]

Whats the `irish` for I never knew humans could be so cruel !

[@EamonnFlynn]

Saneman Ní raibh a fhios agam riamh go bhféadfadh daoine bheith chomh cruálach.

[@marconatrix]

Cha robh riamh roimhe a fhios agam gum biodh daoine cho cruaidh ri sin! (Scots G.)

[@daviesbydesign]

Just going to skip to the next Irish TedX talk where they debunk all of his opening arguments…

[@fragranceofsound]

that''s what Genocide is about. Showing someone as barbaric

[@marconatrix]

Tha cóig duine ann a' seo gun anam 's am bith :-(

[@darthvader5830]

Cén saghas leagan na teanga é seo?

[@DoctorCymraeg]

Éamon De Valera Gàidhlig

[@seanmcgonegon]

I am guessing you are Scottish 🤔am I right

[@marconatrix]

@@seanmcgonegon Yn rann, mez my a drig yn Kernow y'n eur-ma ;-)

[@COM70]

marconatrix déas ráite a dheartháir. Alba gu bràth!

[@johnnywhite58]

Simple: you suppress it ! Make it illegal to speak Irish .

[@russianrings]

tiocfaidh ar la

[@davidnagle8550]

Talks about Irish and cant pronounce Ireland properly.

[@DeniseF]

I don't really care if I speak Irish or not tbh

[@COM70]

Tá án cead sin agat.

[@michaelboylan5308]

Pity this guy cant speak English,,this is a fog of academic jargon ideological half truths and slang like,,,, heavy hitters, Lady Gregory was actually fluent in Gaelige,,,made good translations,,,and with Yeats helped re establish the reputation of the Irish poet Raftery, Academic ideology is the enemy of truth, Linguists and philosophers are really bad on language,,,poets are the best truth tellers about language

[@animejunkie10]

I want an English to gaelic dictionary. Is there a way too create one? I personally am fascinated by languages. I've studied spanish in school and Japanese in my spare time. I'm not even remotely close to fluent but it's fun to learn new languages. Even bits and pieces. Thoughts on the dictionary idea?

[@YellawayHD]

I know this was a year ago but focloir.ie is a free online dictionary

[@seonaxus]

The best one in general (assuming you meant Irish which is what the video is about) is potafocal.com which has a dictionary, thesaurus, and example in context. It also has a link to Intergaelic which translates between Irish, Gaelic, and Manx.

[@seonaxus]

Alternatively there are literally dozens of dictionaries available either in shops or on Amazon. Probably the crowning glory of Irish-English dictionaries in the Caighdeán (the standard form for law and education) is Ó Dónaill, alternatively a pre caighdeán dictionary, considered by many to be THE dictionary is "Foclóir Gaedhilge agus Bérla" (A Dictionary of Irish and English) by Patrick Dineen, it uses somewhat old fashioned spellings and typography but not so much so that the language isn't perfectly legible to any speaker at any level. There are cheaper ones out there as well such as An Gúm's "Foclóir Póca" (Pocket dictionary).